You Yanomami are an indigenous people who inhabit the border region between the Brazil and the Venezuela, in the north of the Amazon rainforest. On the Brazilian side, the Yanomami Indigenous Lands occupy an area of 9.6 million hectares, between the state of Roraima and the state of Amazonas, and are home to more than 26,000 people, totaling eight indigenous communities. Yanomami society is organized in community houses or autonomous villages, where decisions are made jointly, and tasks such as hunting and farming are divided between men and women. women.
The greater contact with non-indigenous peoples, from the second half of the 20th century, and the action of economic agents interested in the exploitation of the natural resources of the region brought a series of negative impacts and dangers to the peoples Yanomami.
Read too: What is the culture of indigenous peoples like?
Summary about the Yanomami
The Yanomami are an indigenous people who live in the Amazon rainforest between Brazil (in state of Roraima and not state of amazon) and Venezuela, over an area of 192,000 km².
The name Yanomami derives from the expression “human beings” in the yanõmami thëpë.
The Yanomami Indigenous Land in Brazil has a population of 26,780 people.
Some Yanomami communities live isolated from other non-indigenous populations.
The Yanomami indigenous people live in houses or villages where more than one family is established, without the existence of an internal hierarchy. Decisions are taken by consensus.
Activities such as hunting and agriculture are divided between men and women respectively.
Shamanism is one of the main aspects of the religiosity of this indigenous people. In this system, shamans are very important figures.
The Yanomami's greatest contact with non-indigenous peoples began in the 1940s.
Infrastructure works promoted from the 1970s onwards and activities such as gold mining made the presence of the non-indigenous population in the region where part of the Yanomami communities live, causing a series of negative impacts to indigenous.
The Yanomami are experiencing a serious health and humanitarian crisis caused by the lack of public policies aimed at indigenous populations in the most recent period.
Who are the Yanomami?
The Yanomami are a indigenous people South American who lives in the north of Amazon rainforest, distributed over areas between Brazil and Venezuela. According to the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Yanomami society is made up of hunters and farmers, and part of it remains relatively isolated from the non-indigenous population.
In 2011, it was estimated that the Yanomami formed a population of 35 thousand people, considering both countries in which they live.|1| More recent data indicate that, in Brazil alone, communities yanomamis constitute a population of more than 26 thousand people.
Yanomami etymology
The name Yanomami, for the indigenous ethnic group, is derived from the expression yanomami, which means “human beings” in the language yanõmami thëpë. The expression that gave rise to the term Yanomami is used in opposition to other words that designate categories such as game animals (yaro), invisible or nameless beings (yai) and foreigners or whites (napë).|2| Anthropologists are credited with creating and using the word Yanomami as a reference to this indigenous people.
Characteristics of the Yanomami
The Yanomami are one of the largest indigenous peoples in South America, and part of their communities live in relative isolation from non-indigenous populations, both in Brazil and Venezuela. This condition is provided not only by the Yanomami way of life, which we will learn about below, but also due to the physical conditions of the region where they are located, formed by dense forests and mountainous.
In Brazil, the Yanomami live in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, whose demarcation process was finalized in 1992. The most recent information from ISA indicates that this Indigenous Land is inhabited by 26,780 people belonging to eight communities in total, among which are the Yanomami and Ye'kwana.
→ Society of the Yanomami
According to the ISA definition, the Yanomami indigenous make up a society of hunters It is farmers. Men are responsible for hunting animals for food, while women are in charge of growing vegetables and gathering items such as nuts and shellfish. Meat derived from hunting is shared with the community formed by the hunter's family and friends, and he himself consumes what was shared with him by another hunter.|3|
It is interesting to note that, despite assigning tasks in everyday life, Yanomami society does not have a hierarchy of power proper. The Yanomami organize themselves into different communities, which each follow their own rules of conduct. ordering and coexistence (including religious, economic and political issues), determined through a consensus. These autonomous units communicate with each other.
The Yanomami live in villages formed per rectangular houses or in collective houses called xapono (shabono) or yanO, where more than one family group lives.
the use of ground respects the need and importance of natural resources for supplying homes and villages. The area to be used is divided into concentric circles, which begin in the surroundings of the house, with crops and hunting. sporadic or short-lived, and expand to more distant areas, destined for collective hunting, planting and expeditions relatives.|4|
→ Religion of the Yanomami
The religion practiced by the Yanomami presents traditional aspects of many South American native peoples, based on animism and shamanism. The forest or forest-land (urihi) presents itself as a living organism, and its elements, such as plants, animals, mountains It is rivers, are endowed with spirit. Some spirits act as helpers to the Yanomami, and are called xapiripë. The contact with them and all the intermediation of their actions are made by the shamans.
→ Culture of the Yanomami
The Yanomami culture, as we have seen, is based on collectivism and a harmonious relationship with nature. In this structure, the pajés (or shamans) are of great importance because they are the ones who communicate with the auxiliary spirits and are able to control phenomena of nature and guarantee the proper functioning of the social group in all its aspects and dynamics, which includes the side spiritual.
The languages spoken by the Yanomami groupss belong to one same language group, being them: yanomae, yanomami, cheer up It is lullaby.
The Yanomami indigenous people have a wide knowledge of the Amazonian rivers and the local flora. In the case of plants, they are used for various purposes, ranging from medicine to the construction of houses and villages.
Yanomami customs include festivals and rites that mark important moments for the communitysuch as births, engagements and deaths. The identity of the Yanomami is also expressed through the body painting and of ornaments used by both women and men, in addition to being present in the craft work carried out by them.
Location of the Yanomami
The Yanomami peoples are located in a area of approximately 192,000 km², in the border region between Venezuela and Brazil, as shown in the image below. On Brazilian soil, the Yanomami Indigenous Land extends over eight municipalities located in the states of Amazonas and Roraima, totaling an area of 96,650 km².
History of the Yanomami
The Yanomami peoples have lived on the Brazilian border with Venezuela for hundreds of years. The Serra Parima region, located in the Highland of the Guianas, on the border between the two territories, was the place where the first Yanomami indigenous people were settled. The population grew and spread to other areas from the 19th century onwards, a process that was partly due to the advance of non-indigenous peoples in the region.
Despite the increase in population and their area of coverage, the Yanomami remained isolated until at least the mid-twentieth century.. Contacts with non-indigenous people began sporadically, but became permanent from the 1940s onwards.
The engineering works promoted by the Brazilian government, such as the opening of new roads, and the intensification of activities such as mineral and plant extraction in the North region, the From the 1970s onwards, contact with the Yanomami not only became definitive (at least with some communities) but also posed risks to the maintenance of the local indigenous population.
It is noteworthy that it was in the 1970s, more precisely in 1977, that the demarcation process of the Yanomami Indigenous Land, completed in 1992 with the establishment of this territory where more than 26,000 people currently live.
Situation of the Yanomami today
The advance of the agromineral frontier (which comprises the extractivism and the farming) for the northern region of Brazil has made the situation of the Yanomami worse over the years. ISA information shows that, during the late 1980s, tens of thousands of people settled in the region to develop activities economical like the mining of gold, creating permanent exploration centers, mainly in the state of Roraima.
Issues such as the growth of the non-indigenous population in areas close to Yanomami lands and the intensification of mining activities, agriculture and illegal hunting and fishing have directly impacted the way of life of indigenous communities.
A land tenure dispute With the escalation of violence, the introduction of diseases hitherto unknown to indigenous populations, the contamination of waters and from the soil resulting from economic activities and the logging are some of the problems faced by the Yanomami.
In recent years, the depletion of public bodies dedicated to caring for indigenous communities and the neglect of Brazilian native peoples have led to the installation of a serious health crisis and humanitarian among the Yanomami.
Hundreds of child deaths have been recorded from malnutrition severe, in addition to symptoms and treatable diseases, such as diarrhea It is pneumonia. More than 11 thousand cases of malaria were confirmed in the year 2022, which mainly affected the elderly population and younger indigenous people.|5| The seriousness of the situation led the Brazilian government to declare a public health emergency in January 2023.
See too: Funai — the official body in Brazil that looks after the rights of indigenous peoples
What is the biggest and The smaller indigenous land of Brazil?
Largest indigenous land in Brazil: The Yanomami Indigenous Land is currently the largest Brazilian reserve, with an area of 96,650 km² and a population of 26,780 indigenous people belonging to the Yanomami ethnolinguistic group.
Smallest indigenous land in Brazil: the smallest Brazilian reserve is the Terra Indígena Jaguará, located in the city of São Paulo. Its area is 1.73 hectares (or 17,300 m²), where 586 people of the Guarani ethnic group live.
Grades
|1| It is |2| ISA. Indigenous peoples of Brazil: Yanomami people. Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), [S.I.]. Available here.
|3| ESSAY. The Yanomami. Survival Brazil, [S.I.]. Available here.
|4| ISA. Indigenous peoples of Brazil: Yanomami people. Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), [S.I.]. Available here.
|5| ESSAY. Almost 100 children died in the Yanomami Indigenous Land in 2022, says Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. G1, 21 Jan. 2023. Available here.
image credits
[1] Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)
[2] Cmacauley / Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)
[3] Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)
Sources
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DAYS, Juliana. Meet the Yanomami: indigenous peoples who live isolated in the Amazon rainforest. Amazon Portal. Available in: https://portalamazonia.com/amazonia/quem-sao-os-yanomami-e-por-que-vivem-isolados-no-meio-da-floresta-amazonica.
FERNANDES, Vanessa. Isolated: who are the Yanomami who live without contact in a community in the middle of the forest. G1. Available in: https://g1.globo.com/rr/roraima/noticia/2021/11/04/isolados-quem-sao-os-yanomami-que-vivem-sem-contato-em-comunidade-no-meio-da-floresta.ghtml.
ISA. IPHAN recognizes the importance of Yanomami linguistic diversity. Available in: https://site-antigo.socioambiental.org/pt-br/noticias-socioambientais/iphan-reconhece-importancia-da-diversidade-linguistica-yanomami.
ISA. Indigenous peoples of Brazil: Yanomami people. Available in: https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo: Yanomami.
ISA. Indigenous Lands of Brazil: Yanomami Indigenous Land. Available in: https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/4016.
MEDEIROS, Rozelia. Yanomami. Environmental Education Portal – Secretary of Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics of the State of São Paulo. Available in: https://www.infraestruturameioambiente.sp.gov.br/educacaoambiental/prateleira-ambiental/yanomami/.
RAMALHO, Yara; OLIVEIRA, Valerie. Yanomami Land completes 30 years with the greatest devastation in history caused by mining. G1. Available in: https://g1.globo.com/rr/roraima/noticia/2022/05/25/terra-yanomami-completa-30-anos-com-maior-devastacao-da-historia-causada-pelo-garimpo.ghtml.
ESSAY. What is known about the invasion of prospectors in Yanomami territory. BBC News Brasil. Available in: https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-61328546.
ESSAY. The Yanomami. Survival Brasil. Available in: https://www.survivalbrasil.org/povos/yanomami.
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography Teacher
